Opening Prayer Telling the Story of Daniel & the Lions Den

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Kid Nation Lesson, grades 3-4-5 March 3, 2019 Daniel Today classes will be in their small groups the entire morning (no large group). This is a GREAT opportunity for teachers and 4:10ers to really connect with children and build those relationships. Kelly will also be coming around to classes to observe and to answer any questions you may have. Items bold and in red below have more details following so be sure to continue reading! Here is the approximate schedule for this morning: 9:15 (or 11:00)

Gather children together Prayer Requests Opening Prayer

9:25 (or 11:10)

Opening Introduction Telling the story of Daniel

9:40 (or 11:30)

True/False Review Game

9:50 (or 11:40)

Lion Craft Activity

Opening Prayer After gathering the children together and asking for prayer requests, offer this opening prayer: Thank you, Lord that even though we're not perfect and have our failures, nothing and no one can change the fact that you love us – just as we are. Help us to live a life full of peace. Help us to take things calmly. Help us not to panic when things go wrong. Help us to not be nervous but to keep cool when we have important things to do. Help us to never lose our tempers, no matter how annoying things or other people may be. With your help I can live more like you. In your name we pray, Amen.

Telling the Story of Daniel & the Lions Den (Note to teachers: Included are two versions of the story of Daniel. One is much more basic but the main points are included which is important to note. The second version has many more details but not all "need" to be included when telling the story. The second version is more for you, as the story teller, to have a background on what is happening in the story and why certain things took place as they did. As a storyteller, pray that God will show you how to tell the story and in what manner. He will guide you! You do not have to read this word-for-word, but re-tell the story so that it's interesting and captivating to the students. Ask questions. Have them play out the parts! Get creative!)

Daniel and the Lion's Den – basic version This is a story about Daniel. He actually came to Babylon with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and each king that came and went liked these men because they were honest and hard workers. They were always given the most important jobs which made the other workers of the king jealous. This time the king's name was Darius and he also liked Daniel. He knew that Daniel was a good worker so he decided to put Daniel in charge of the whole country. The other servants of the king were very jealous of Daniel and they tried to find something that would get Daniel in trouble. They were trying to get him fired, but Daniel obeyed God so they couldn't find anything. Finally these men said to each other, "We can't find any reason for the king to fire Daniel. The only way we could get him to disobey the king is if we made a law against his god." So they went to king Darius and said, "O great king, you are so wonderful that no one should pray to anyone but you." The king said, "That sounds like a great idea!" Then the men continued, "All of your workers have agreed that this should be done and that anyone that prays to any other god should be thrown into the lions den." The workers lied and said that everyone who worked for the king agreed, but of course they never talked to Daniel because they knew he wouldn't agree. The king didn't know this, so he made the law and it couldn't be changed. When Daniel heard about the new law he did what he always did. He went home to a room upstairs and opened the windows that looked out over the city. Three times that day he went down on his knees and prayed to God just like he always had. These men went as a group to Daniel's house and found him praying and asking God for help. So they ran straight to the king and told him, "Your worker Daniel is ignoring your command. We have seen him praying to his God three times today." When the king heard this he was very sad. He really liked Daniel and he didn't want him to die. He tried everything to get the law changed to stop Daniel from being thrown in the lions' den, but the men came to him and reminded him that the law could not be changed and Daniel would have to be punished. So at the end of the day the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel, "I hope your God who you serve and pray to will rescue you!" A large, heavy stone was rolled in front of the den and the king went back to his palace with tears in his eyes. That night King Darius couldn't eat or sleep he was so worried for Daniel.

The next day, as soon as the sun came up the king got up and ran to the lions' den. As he got closer he shouted, "Daniel, has your God who you serve and pray to rescued you from the lions?" The king waited quietly for a response. Then all of a sudden Daniel said, "O king, live forever! My God sent an angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me because I have done nothing wrong." The king jumped with joy and immediately ordered that Daniel be removed from the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, there wasn't even a scratch on him because he trusted in God. The king knew that the men had tricked him into punishing Daniel so he punished them. After that the king made a new law and he said, "Daniel's God is great, and I order that everyone in my kingdom must respect the Lord God, who rescued Daniel from the hungry lions."

Daniel and the Lions Den – Detailed Version Darius became king when he and his armies overcame Belshazzar and entered Babylon under the walls. As the ruler of this new territory, Darius chose 120 satraps or governors to have authority over the people living in the different territories. The 120 were under the leadership of 3 vice presidents that the king chose. As one of the 3 vice presidents, Daniel had a very good reputation before King Darius. Because of his excellent reputation the king was planning to promote him and set him over the entire kingdom. The 2 other vice presidents did not like the idea that the King was planning to make Daniel ruler over the entire kingdom. They were jealous because the king thought Daniel was an excellent man with an exceptional reputation. They didn’t want him promoted as ruler over the entire kingdom. These 2 men were looking hard for something wrong with Daniel instead of looking out for his best interest. The only way they could keep Daniel from looking good in the eyes of the king was to look for something that Daniel was doing wrong in his work. Surely they could find a time when he was dishonest in his job or took money that didn’t belong to him. Maybe they could catch him taking a nap at his desk when he was supposed to

be working. They searched and searched for something bad to say about Daniel but couldn’t find anything wrong. It frustrated the 2 vice presidents that they could not find anything wrong with Daniel’s behavior. They still wanted to make him look bad to the king so they thought about it and realized that the only way they could make Daniel look bad is if they made him break God’s laws. They knew that Daniel was faithful to his God and the only way he could do something wrong was if he sinned against God. The two vice presidents gathered many of the satraps that were serving in the kingdom and told them their plan to bring Daniel down. They wanted so desperately to get Daniel in trouble that they began to negatively influence the satraps as well. They came up with a plan and got the crowd of people pumped up about their plan & they took it to King Darius. Imagine being King Darius on the day his appointed leaders show up before him. They stood before him and spoke flattering words, they said, “O King Darius, live forever! We have gotten together and have agreed that we think that you should make a law that for the next thirty days no one should pray to any other god except to you. If anyone breaks your law the punishment will be thrown into the lions’ den.” The king was flattered. Here was a group of his leaders suggesting that all the people only pray to him for the next thirty days. He was being influenced to think he was god and was worthy of others’ praise and worship. It sounded like a good idea to him because he got lost in his own pride and thinking how wonderful it would be to be praised by the people of his kingdom. He wrote out the law and signed and sealed the law making the law unchangeable. What was written must take place and no one could change the king’s law. When Daniel heard that the law was written and signed by the king he went home and did what he always did. He opened his window that was facing in the direction of Jerusalem a place he lived with God’s people many years before. He got on his knees and began to pray and asked God for help. Daniel was faithful to God and did not let anything keep him from praying and talking to God. As Daniel is praying with his window open, his enemies came to his house and found him praying to his God. They must have been so excited that they finally caught Daniel doing something wrong. They found so much satisfaction that they had tricked the king so they could catch Daniel breaking a law. They rushed back to King Darius and said, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles (someone who was taken from their own land) from Judah pays no attention to you, O King or to the law you put into writing. He still prays three times a day to his God.

Daniel’s enemies were happy but Darius was very troubled. He knew Daniel was a faithful man with an excellent spirit. He must have wanted to kick himself for falling for the trick of making this crazy law that people could only pray to him. He tried very hard to keep Daniel from being punished because he broke this law. He worked hard until the day was over trying to rescue Daniel from his punishment. The enemies came to the king and reminded him that he could not break his own law and that Daniel was to be punished in the lion’s den. Knowing that he had no other choice, Darius ordered Daniel to be thrown into the lions’ den. As Daniel was being taken to the den the king said, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” As Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den the king had a stone placed over the mouth of the den and sealed it with his signet ring. Why was a seal put on the stone? Verse 17 says so that Daniel’s situation could not be changed. No one would be able to roll away the stone and take him out or worse try to kill him on their own. Darius returned to his palace and spent the entire night without eating or having any kind of entertainment. If we could see him in his room, what do you think he might have been doing? Do you think he may have paced the floors worrying about Daniel’s life? Is it possible that he prayed to Daniel’s God and asked him to rescue Daniel? We don’t know exactly what he did we just know that it must have been a long night for Darius. As soon as it was daylight Darius ran to the lions’ den. When he got to the den he called out to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel servant of the living God has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?” What a relief it was for Darius to hear Daniel say, “O king live forever! My God sent His angels and He shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in His sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.” Daniel had been protected because he was faithful to God and because he had placed his trust in Him. The king was overjoyed that Daniel was alive! He gave orders to lift Daniel up out of the den. There wasn’t a bite mark or a scratch found on his body because he had trusted in his God. The king commanded that Daniel’s enemies who falsely accused him were to be thrown into the lions’ den along with their wives and children. Before they reached the floor of the lions’ den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

King Darius wrote a new law that said that everyone in his kingdom must honor and respect Daniel’s God. King Darius saw God’s power in Daniel’s godly life and His protection from the hungry lions. Darius praised the living God before the people. Daniel was successful during the reign of Darius and the next king, Cyrus. God had blessed Daniel’s life because he was a faithful follower of Him. Daniel had a positive impact on Darius. Because of his good reputation and faithfulness to God he gained favor in Darius’ sight. Darius’ came to know that God is living and powerful through Daniel’s excellent life. How is your character influencing others around you? Are others learning what it means to be a Christian by the way you live your life or are they learning how to get in trouble at school or at home because of your actions and attitudes?

True/False Review Game 1. Give each student 2 pieces of paper – one red and one green. 2. Explain that the red piece represents an answer of FALSE and the green represents an answer of TRUE 3. Read each statement below. After each statement have students hold up their green card if they think the statement is true, and hold up the red card if they think the answer is false.

Art Activity 1. Give each student one round cardboard circle, one lion head, and a glue stick. 2. Put out colored strips of paper where students can share along with colored pencils and/or markers students can share. 3. Using the sample as a guide, have students color their lion face THEN cut it out. 4. Lay the lion face on one side of the colored circle (students can pick the white or brown side – their choice). 5. Lightly trace around the main part of the face to know where the paper strips will be laid. 6. Remove the lion face from the cardboard circle and set aside. 7. On the BACK side of the cardboard circle, have the students copy this Bible verse from the white board (where you have written it) or directly from their Bibles: Daniel was taken up out of the den and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. Daniel 6:23

8. Using a glue stick, glue various colors of paper strips around the perimeter of the circle. IMPORTANT: Glue the strips about ½" inside the pencil outline that was drawn. This way, when the lion face is glued down, the paper strips will be tucked behind the lion face! 9. Once students are finished with their paper strips, then glue the lion head on top of the paper strips. 10. If so desired, students can cut or trim any wildly long paper strips so the lion's mane is a bit more uniform (optional).